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Topic: Fan Fic, The Test
Well I wrote this up and sent it to Aaron but I think I mistyped his email or my horrible internet connection here in Afghanistan dropped the email (that happens believe it or not). So I thought I would post it on here. I am horrible at spelling, typos, and grammar but I have been told I have some small tallent in this area. Kinda nervous to post this for all to see but here goes. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
It was hot on Myrkr. Ala stood on his hands with his back to a wall and a large stone balanced on each foot, while the sweat trickled down his body. He was uncomfortable and over heated, but was givin just enough water to stave off dehydration. Withstanding heat was just another test. Another measure of proving that he was the best. Heat baked him in waves but he maintained concentration and focused his entire being on keeping his entire body rigid, and under conntrol. The heat did not effect him because he did not allow it to.
The old withered Nohgri beside Ala was doing the exact same thing. They had began at the same time and Ala could tell this test was just as trying on his master as it was on him. The wrinkled shrivled form beside him trembled just perceptibly with the effort. His hissing breaths betrayed the weakness of age. His watery eyes showed signs of distress and fatigue, and yet the tiny grey humanoid supported two stones equal in size to those used by Ala.
Ala was not fooled by the old former commando. He bore the scars of having underestimated the old master while sparing. He knew the the masters wit was as keen and his frail appearing body was as honed as it ever was. He knew that his master had done this same exercise for hours while balancing on ONE hand. Years of training had forged the tiny body's muscles into durasteel.The little Nohgri might be old, but he was far from weak.
The little former commando turned and spoke to him, in a light whispy grating tone. "Tired?" was all he said. The master had a twinkle in his eye as he stared into the eyes of his pupal. Just as suspected the old Noghri was simply waiting for failure. He took it for granted as always. He spoke in the same calm controled voice he always did. Although he spoke with a slight tremor from age, there was no weakness in the voice of the master.
Every time they had done this excercise, or any excercise, they had done it as a pair. The master did not believe that anyone should teach what they could not learn, or command something they could not do. Every task, job, chore, fight, or lesson had been performed by both master and student. Every hardship endured had been the same for them equaly. For eight years the had done this and every task had ended in the same result.
The little Nohgri had done it better, longer and more precisely. Every time they had done this exercise, it had ended with Ala collapsing in a quivvering heap and moaning from the pain of the two stones falling on him. Every time this happened the little Nohgri had quietly and precisely lowered his stones to the ground and picked up his pupal and carried him back to their quarters. Every time the master had shown why he was chosen to train Nohgri commandos for 30 years before Ala was born.
Ala responded with a smile and shake of his head. When he had started training as an eight year old boy, he had had to restart the exercise after failing. Over the course of the years since however he had trained his mind to push his body to the point where the task was no longer physicaly possible for him. Now when he fell he would have drained every last vestige of energy from his body. He did not tremble nor did he waver. He was stone. He would not fall. His entire being focused on mainting the correct position and posture as long as his master required.
His master collapsed. It was such a shock to Ala that he had lowered his feet droping his stones safely away from himself and flipped to his feet before he realized it. He had not even contemplated the fact that he had finaly beaten his master at his own game as he leapt to the fallen quivvering Nohgri. "Dynast! Are you injured? What happened? Are you ill?" He pulled off the two stones from the crumpled form and lifted the shaking Nohgri by his upper arms.
"Perhaps I am too old," Said the master "or perhaps you have all of the training I can give you." Grated the Nohgri. "Our training today has finished. You are compleat." Ala did not take the time to contemplate the import of those words. He lifted the frail wizened body and dashed towards their quarters.
"Ba'buir! Ba'Buir! The Dynast is ill! Help!" Several heads of several different species thrust from the different buildings of the compound and most of the occupants hurried toward them. One was an older human like Ala. In fact he and the boy had a striking resemblance altered only by the myriad of scars on the older man. He strode forward as Ala dropped to his knees in the dirt and looked down at the little Nohgri with a wry chuckle.
"Finaly beat you did he?" Said the older man in a voice that sounded like a beskar saber being sharpened. The harsh, jagged, grinding baso of the mans voice sounded like death itself. The older man looked down unconcerned at the shaking form of the Nohgri on the ground for a moment before he spoke. "Go clean your self up Ala, we will take care of him. He will be fine." The boy hesitated for a moment a defiant and protective gleam in his eye, then nodded, rose, and turned away.
The old man turned and addressed the crowd. "Get the Nohgri whatever he needs then all of you meet me for a conference." With that he turned and strode away, while they attended the former commando.
Only a moment later there was a meeting in the dining hall of the little compound. The old man sat at the head of the table. He sat unadorned in nondescript clothing, but wore it as any predator wears his skin. His hair was mostly grey and his wrinkled skin was furrowed and crisscrossed with so many scars it was hard to be sure that he was even truly a human. He sat in a perfect picture of posture. He was obviously in command, and the posture of everyone at the table showed that they acnowledged that.
He pierced the silence with his jarring voice so suddenly that any other group would have jumped.
"So...." He said as he looked around the table with his dark piercing eyes. "What is the decision you have reached?" The quivvering Nohgri was the first to speak, his voice a more quiet and age softened version of the old mans grate.
"He is without equal. He can kill any man in this room with his bare hands. He knows more about weapons and how to use them than the people who make them. He is undetectable when he wants to be and stronger in mind than any other human I have ever met." The import of his words did not miss the attention of anyone in the room. He was saying that the boy was the equal of any of them, including the old man. He was saying that the boy was ready.
The Verpine spoke next. His antennae shifted as he spoke, the left one tilted at an odd angle due to an injury incurred in a vibro-blade fight. "He is the most capable mechanic I have ever taught. He can improvise, repair and slice any system he can come across with minimal supplies. I do not think I could teach him any more unless he was verpine. I left him in orbit in an escape pod without any systems other than life support and an emergency beacon. As I was leaving he sliced my ships slave circuits useing the emergency becon and had my ship return and tractor beam him into the cargo bay. I do not believe there is anything more he can learn from me." His repetitive speach pattern was an unfortunate side effect of his dammaged antennae. Again everyone in the room realized the importance of what was said. The boy was ready.
One by one the members of this group told the old man the same thing. The Dug, that the boy could outpilot any being in any vehicle over any course. The Ithorian that the boy knew more about medicine and healing than most doctors. Each different individual was a master at his art, and each one admited the boy their equal. For all of these beings of a variety of different species to say this must have been difficult for them, but each one no matter how tough crusty hard or dangerous had a soft spot for the boy as they had watched him grow from a gangling dark haird child of eight, to hard strong smart resourceful adolescent.
He was the product of tireless teaching at the hands of the galactic underworlds best.
The last to rise and give testament was the most shocking. He was Yuuzhan Vong. The gnarled and disfigured warrior spoke of the boys ability to withstand any pain, and endure any hardship. He expounded on the youths prowess and cunning and spoke of his knowledge of combat. He admitted that the boy could have forced him to divulge any secret despit his ability to resist torture and drugs. Even this creature from another galaxy, one of the most hated and feared species ever to roam the spacelanes, could not honestly admit that he was the boys superior. He was ready.
As the grizzled warrior finished and sat the old man slowly looked around the table. He was a hard man. He still walked with a deadly grace even though his age had corrupted his body. He still looked imposing even without an entire arsenal strapped to his body. He was still the most revered fighting man in the galaxy, even though he hadn't fought anyone in more than a decade or so.
He was Boba Fett.
He turned to the Nohgri who seemed to have somewhat recovered from his experiance. "Bring Ala." was all he said in that chilling grating voice that had haunted the dreams of the most deadly beings in the galaxy. The Nohgri rose and left, returning shortly with the boy, though it seemed that he took longer than he usually would have. Age having finaly bested him it seemed.
Ala walked into the room straight backed, He wore simple fatigue trousers and boots but no shirt. Myrkr's oppressive humidity and heat in this region made him glisten with sweat. Small pock-mark scars stood out on his body, though not as many as were on Boba. He was a larger man than his great-grandfather was, and he had been sculpted into the perfect fighting man. He did not scowl or smile upon entering the room. He merely assessed the room and the threats there. One eyebrow arched when he realized that all of his teachers were there. He stood and waited to find out the reason for this meeting.
"Come here boy." Said his great-grandfather from the other side of the room. "I have been told you are ready. Apperently there is nothing more any one in this room can teach you. You are a master of every art, ability, trick or scheme that these men know of. Today you recieve what is yours." Ala paced across the room. His great grand father gestured to a large white trunk in front of him and Ala studied it.
I was a solid piece carved entirely from mythosaur bone. The hinges were not put togeather but carefully carved out so that the box had never been assembeled, but literally carved from one piece. Ala had never seen anything like it and could not estimate the value of it even though he could name dozens of people who could price it. The top of the trunk was carved with the ancient symbol of the Mandalorians, the skull of the mythosaur. It was easily large enough to hold a human body or maybe two, and did not appear to have a lock or latch. This to was a test.
Ala circumnavagated the box studying it intently and when he had returned to the front he leaned down to carefuly run his fingers over the carving. He had studied puzzle boxes and instantly recognized this as one for although there was no lock a box of this value would contain only something of greater value and so would be able to keep it safe.
There! he felt on of the eye socketts of the mythosaur shift ever so slightly under his studied touch. He felt the eye and when he could not make it move more than a micrometer he felt both eyes simultaneously. He pushed gently down on both eyes with his thumbs, untill they would retreat no farter then moved his thumbs experimentally and felt the eyes shift under the lip of the hole they had vacated. Both eyes moved away from each other towards opposite ends of the trunk. With a soft click the lid sprung open just a crack.
Boba looked up and locked eyes with the master burgler he had hired to train his great grand son who returned his gaze with an "I told you so" smirk. Boba only raised an eyebrow in appreciation and returned to watching the boy.
Ala opened the trunk slowly examining inside the lid for hidden wires or booby traps then as the thick lid slowly swung open examined the locking mechanism of the trunk. It to had all been carefully carved from a solid piece so craftily that it could not be dissassembled, nor fooled by someone who did not know how to open the box. The inside of the lid was made with the intention that someone could add the booby traps Ala had been wary of if they so chose. In fact it was made to host a very wide variety of booby traps. One could set things to destroy the box and its contents, or just the contents or destroy whoever opened it, or even a city block on coruscant if one had the correct ordnance.
Finaly the boy looked down into the box. It held a wide assortment of lethal and nonlethal weapons, some quite expensive and/or illegal. It held a calling beacon for a ship and a vast myriad of different kinds of explosives. The box contained everything from toxins to hold out blasters arranged around the sides carefully placed and assorted some mounted to the walls of the box and some in perfectly fitted cubbyholes. In the center in a large upraised portion segragated from all of the rest of the equipment was a carefully arranged set of Beskar'gam. It was a compleate set of Mandalorian armor, made of the hardest metal in the known galaxy.
The boy stared down in awe for a moment in total silence. Then upon realizing that some areas of the box were left empty he felt a tap at his shoulder and turned to see his mentors and teachers standing in a line to come before him one by one. The grizzly Yuuzhan Vong stood first in line and he passed the boy something and clasped him on the arm the turned and walked from the door, and out of Ala's life. He looked down in his hand and realized that he held an amphistaff. The main weapon of a full Yuuzhan Vong warrior. He commanded the creature into the box almost by reflex and it went as it was commanded.
Teacher after teacher came to him and profered a gift that was reverntly placed in the box. Each gift was a tool in the craft the master had taught of the highest quality. As they moved past Ala he realized that some looked sad as though they would never see him again. Some looked happy for him, as though he were their own off spring. All of them looked on him with pride, knowing that they had taught him well. As the gangly verpine gave him a vast set of tools also made of Beskar and walked away he looked down at the last of the teachers to bid him farewell. The Nohgri.
As the tiny wizend figure walked up to him and held out his gift, Ala almost began to chok up. Almost... Everything is a test. He accepted the gift, and examined it. It was a pair of bracers that could mount either with or without armor. The bracers themselves were constructed entirely of Beskar and had rods and springs situated so as to propel weapons into the hands of the wearer upon command. A small loop fit over his thumbs as he put on the bracers and strapped them down. if he moved his thumbs in one direction a pair of small blasters shot forward into his hands, good for at least 15 rounds apiece. They looked similar to the pistols issued to storm troopers in the old Imperial days. Another movement shot forward replacement power packs and held them so that the user could eject the old ones and ram home the new with a flick of th wrist. There were four spare power packs per blaster and one already in the blasters made five each. He was puzzled however by a pair of small cylinders nestled between the power packs and the blasters. he put everything back to its origional position with a certain motion of his wrists and thumbs, and the small cylinders shot forward into his hands with a distinctive snap-hiss.
Lightsabers? Though they were extemely like them in every way they were much shorter and the blade only reached about a foot and a half. The dark ruby red blades meant they were of sith origin, and the symbols carved into the handles dated them back to the days of the Old Sith Wars. Shotos, they were called. Each shoto being mounted in a different grieve meant that the user could wield two shotos, or two blasters, or one shoto and one blaster. The advantage was obvious and Ala immediatly realized the importance of the gift. "Thank you Dynast" He said.
The small figure smiled grimly and said "I am not your Dynast any more, as you are now of your own clan and must be your own Dynast. From now on you call me either Treghfelar clan Ushkae, or you call me friend." Ala smiled and bowed to his old master and recieved a return bow. Then the old Nohgri turned and shuffeled out of the room leaving Ala with the only other occupant in the room.
He faced his great grand father and bowed to him to. As he recieved a defined nod that was as close to a bow as he had ever seen from the man he felt a swelling of pride at the compliment. He had just recieved the same measure of defference as Darth Vader once had. He laid the grieves in the chest and stood for a moment, then Boba spoke. " Your ready and now your equipped. Your ship is ready for you. From now on your no longer little Ala the clever boy Mirta asked me to train. You are Dha'kal Fett."
Dha'kal reached down into the chest and lifted out the helmet. Looking down into the visor. The armor was painted black and green. Sometimes the two colors were mixed in a striped pattern as a type of camoflage.
How fitting that my mother would name me "Dark-Knife" and Ba'buir would give me armor painted dark colors.
P.S. Ala's thoughts were supposed to be italicised but that somehow got lost in translation sorry.
―Boba Fett


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subset: commoncrawl


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On July 25, 2009, more than two million Kurds went to the polls and, fed up with corruption, nepotism, and the ruling families' abuse of power, delivered the establishment parties a stunning rebuke. The Gorran list, led by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani's former deputy Nawshirwan Mustafa, won a stunning victory in Sulaymani and would have made greater inroads into Erbil and Duhok had it not been for Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) fraud.
Whereas the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had long described itself as a democracy because it had held multiparty elections in 1992, subsequent power sharing and then the division of the region into fiefdoms meant that Kurdistan always lacked true political opposition. Neither PUK nor KDP could accept the responsibility of opposition because both saw power linked to wealth and the ability to dispense the patronage and refused to accept second place. The two major parties co-opted many of the smaller, nominal opposition parties, while the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) remained too isolated.
In the wake of the 2009 election, there was great optimism that Gorran really could bring change. Gorran members spoke of their power to subpoena ruling officials to answer questions in parliament and defend their actions. The parliament did use its prerogative to question Interior Minister Karim Sinjari in the wake of last year's KDP shooting of civilian protestors in Sulaymani, but parliamentary speaker Kamal Kirkuki wielded his power to prevent any serious interrogation. Kirkuki has also worked to undercut the opposition's investigation into the KRG budget. Meanwhile, the parliament's integrity commission remains paralyzed in the wake of government disinterest and parliamentary resignations.
While Regional President Masud Barzani may remain hostile to fiscal transparency, and neither he nor Sinjari are willing to accept accountability for KDP death squads and attacks on civilians, many Kurdish officials—Barzani included—openly cloak themselves in Kurdish nationalism.
Herein lay a real opportunity, then, for the Kurdish parliament to prove its worth. Visiting Ankara on December 17, 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta endorsed fully Turkey's fight against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "Just as Turkey has shared in our determination to deny al-Qaida and its militant allies safe haven in Afghanistan, I'd also like to express the strong solidarity of the United States with Turkey in the fight against the terrorist PKK," he declared.
Less than two weeks later, a Turkish airstrike utilizing American equipment killed 35 Kurdish civilians, a massacre for which, like that of this past August, Turkey has refused both formal apology and compensation. The massacre came a month and a half after the U.S. Congress approved the sale of AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopters to Turkey for Turkish counterterrorism operations.
By U.S. law, prior to any military sale to a foreign power, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency notifies Congress, which then has 15 days to object to the sale. If no senator opposes the sale, then it is approved. While Prime Minister Barham Salih was in Washington, DC, during this window and, indeed, was meeting both with senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee as well as Vice President Joseph Biden, those with whom he met deny he raised Kurdish objections to the sales of weaponry to Turkey. This is especially disappointing given that the Turkish government had not determined the cause for its August error that resulted in the deaths of seven Iraqi Kurds, including young children. When Americans or Israelis conduct a counter-terror attack that results in civilian casualties, there are extensive reviews to prevent their reoccurrence. To this day, the Turks have presented no evidence that they acknowledge let alone investigate their errors. This alone should have been reason for Barham to ask his carefully cultivated American friends to oppose or delay the weapons sale. That the Turks made no secret of their intent to use such weapons against Kurds underscores the tragedy of KRG silence.
The Kurdish opposition can prove its self-worth if they utilize their parliamentary minority to compel Barham to answer questions regarding KRG passivity in the face of the Turkish arms sale. While the Super Cobra helicopters were not the tools with which the Turks perpetrated the attack on the Kurdish civilian column, the arms sale delay would have put the Turks on notice and led them to act less cavalierly.
The prime minister should not be the only subject of parliamentary inquiry. The Kurds have spent millions of dollars cultivating a "Kurdish Caucus" in the U.S. Congress and also flying retired but well-connected generals to Kurdistan. Parliament might question Kurds involved in the Washington outreach to determine the reason for their silence ahead of the Turkish massacre. Falah Mustafa Bakir, then de facto KRG foreign minister, might also answer questions before parliament about what strategy he undertook to derail the Turkish arms purchase and, if he took no action, why not.
The KDP and PUK might not like their members subject to such questioning. Accountability is never pleasant for those seeking to operate behind a curtain of opacity. Kurds elected their representatives to serve them, however. If Iraqi Kurdish leaders had the power to prevent the Turks from acquiring the tools of massacre but did not, they should be willing to explain why, or be forced to acknowledge they use the rhetoric of Kurdish empowerment insincerely. The death of so many innocent Kurds is a tragedy. If their sacrifices can jumpstart real Kurdish democracy and accountability, then future generations may not suffer such calamity.


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Posted by Christian Hilber, LSE & SERC
Part two of a two part series, originally published in Planning and Building Control Today
In the first part of this article (published in July), I presented an argument saying that the UK planning system has serious flaws and delivers benefits only at excessively high costs, mainly hurting the young. In this second and final part, I outline what I believe make viable proposals for reform.
Three proposals for reform
When I gave evidence to the Treasury Committee back in April of 2016, I was asked by the Chairman what I would realistically do to tackle the affordability crisis if I were in charge of government policy. My response was the sketch of a three-pronged policy.
My first recommendation was to transition from the current development control system towards a rule-based zoning system. This transition could be piloted in a 'Special Planning Zone' and later introduced country-wide. The aim would be to rationalise and simplify the allocation of land use and dramatically reduce planning uncertainty, thereby also removing the valuable 'real option' to hoard land and delay development. The basic idea would be that instead of requiring development control permission for any change of 'use' of any parcel of land, certain areas would be zoned for residential purposes and within those zones, there would be an automatic presumption of development as long as the owner of land can convey that building regulations are obeyed. Neighbours could object only if they can substantiate that rules are clearly violated. This could replace the current process that involves a lengthy public consultation and often complicated Section 106 negotiations. Simplifying the planning process would have the additional benefit that it would make it easier for smaller scale developers to enter the market, thus competition among developers, reducing possible cohesive 'oligopolistic' behaviour among large-scale developers and ultimately leading to more production of housing and smaller 'abnormal' profits.
Of course just changing to a rule-based zoning system does not in itself alter the incentives of local authorities to allocate land for residential purposes. My second recommendation was thus that any reform of the planning system should be accompanied by additional fiscal incentives at local level to allocate land for residential purposes (either via granting planning permission under the current system or, preferably, via designating land areas for future residential development under the proposed rule-based zoning system). As a general principle, local property taxes should be given significantly more weight in the tax system. This could be achieved in a revenue-neutral way via replacing the national Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – a terribly inefficient tax that significantly hampers housing-related and short distance moves1. Moreover, development induced increases in the tax revenue base should not be equalised away through the central government grant system.
The current council tax, which bears little relation to underlying property values, ought to be transformed into a proper annual local property tax – or better, even a local land value tax – with automatic annual revaluation based on location-specific price changes. The key advantages of a sizeable annual local property tax are threefold: • It would generate a permanent revenue stream that would incentivise local authorities to make more land available for residential development; • It would reduce the occurrence of underused or vacant housing and would generally ensure the optimal use of the scarce resource land; and lastly • Such a tax would impose a far smaller economic 'deadweight loss' compared to the SDLT.
On a related note, local authorities should also be allowed to introduce impact fees. Such fees are imposed on proposed development projects to pay for all or a share of the costs of providing additional local public infrastructure and services.
My final recommendation was that the central government ought to require the various enacting bodies – typically local authorities – to critically review major existing planning constraints such as green belts, height restriction areas, protected view corridors or conservation areas. They would need to justify for each such constraint that a market failure exists and that the benefits associated with correcting this market failure can reasonably be argued to exceed the opportunity costs. For the case of green belt land, for example, a guiding principle could be that the enacting body needs to justify preservation for the various sub-sections of the belt one-by-one on grounds of significant environmental or amenity value. If no such values can be established for particular sub-sections, especially if such land is nearby already developed high-demand areas with pre-existing transport infrastructure, a presumption for development ought to be enacted.
Vested interests and a glimmer of hope
After I outlined my proposals to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee back in April, his comment was: "I wish you well at the polls with your three-pronged policy". Clearly, his concern was that it would be difficult to gather majority support for my proposals. He certainly has a point, although in some sense that is surprising: If policymakers were to implement a variant of the above outlined proposals, they would be bound to make the society as a whole better-off. So, why is it so difficult to gather support for such reforms?
One reason is that the benefits of certain policies or settings are concentrated among a small group of individuals with strong vested interests (e.g. homeowners benefiting from a protected vista or living adjacent to a green belt), whereas the costs are diffused throughout the whole society (all residents facing higher housing costs). While the former group has strong incentives to influence policy makers to protect the status quo, the latter group is not capable of organising their interests in a cohesive way.
A second reason is incomplete or distorted information about the benefits and costs associated with certain policies or settings. For example, consider expanding families in London that managed to get on the owner-occupied housing ladder some time ago. The staggering capital gains on their leveraged homes may well make them feel significantly better off. Yet, they are in fact likely losers of the broken planning system for three reasons:
- Compared to a 'counterfactual scenario' with more relaxed planning they live in artificially cramped housing;
- They are increasingly priced out from moving to larger more adequate housing; and
- They cannot realise their capital gains unless they move to a less desirable city with fewer planning constraints and lower house prices (or they leave the country altogether).
The only real winners of the planning system are wealthy land and property owners who possess more property than they consume, elderly homeowners who are prepared to sell their houses, pocket the proceeds and move to a country with cheaper housing, and the children of wealthy parents once they eventually inherit property. The planning system cements wealth inequality, and the beneficiaries of this rising inequality have incentives to keep the system as it is.
Yet, there are glimmers of hope. There are signs that attitudes of the British public towards building more homes are changing, and are changing rather rapidly. The British Social Attitudes survey has shown a remarkable decline in NIMBYism in recent years. Opposition in England to new homes being built in the local area has declined by more than half between 2010 and 2014 from 46 to 21 percent. Similarly, support for local house building has doubled from 28 to 56 percent. Policy makers ought to take notice.
In fact, it appears policymakers already do take notice: the pre-Brexit Conservative government made some encouraging announcements (among less encouraging ones). The 2016 Budget explicitly mentions "moving to a more zonal planning system" as an objective and reducing planning related uncertainty appears to be a priority. The government also announced the full retention of the business rate by local authorities from 2020 thus providing fiscal incentives at the local level to permit commercial development. Sadly, this bold move may have the unintended consequence of discouraging local authorities from making scarce land available for private and social housing, thus potentially further worsening the housing crisis. However, it raises hope that the post-Brexit Conservative government will eventually follow with an even bolder move; to provide much stronger fiscal incentives to local authorities to permit residential development. That really could change the dynamics for the better – particularly for the young.
There are signs that the new Prime Minister Theresa May is serious about trying to tackle the housing crisis. In her last speech prior to taking on her new job, she stated the following: "Unless we deal with the housing [supply] deficit, we will see house prices keep on rising. Young people will find it even harder to afford their own home. The divide between those who inherit wealth and those who don't will become more pronounced. And more and more of the country's money will go into expensive housing instead of more productive investments that generate more economic growth."
Theresa May appears to understand that lack of house building lays at the very heart of both, the country's serious and worsening social divide and its economic crisis. She seems to understand that the stakes are high and bold action is required. This is encouraging from the point of view of those interested in affordable housing, especially the younger generation and the less wealthy. What is crucial, however, is that she and her ministers realise that demand-side policies such as Help to Buy won't solve the housing crisis and the corresponding growing social and economic problems. In fact, more Help to Buy – notwithstanding its deceptive name – is likely to aggravate the country's social divide and economic crisis. What is needed instead are bold reforms on the supply side – outlined in this article – that tackle the causes of the problem. This would require bold leadership that puts social welfare and social justice above vested and narrow party interests.
There is no denial that – despite changing social attitudes – implementing supply-side reforms entails a political risk. Any potential reforms are further complicated by the fact that Brexit (apart from attracting much of the political attention) is likely to significantly adversely affect the real economy in the short-run and thus house prices. This may (further) reduce incentives of developers to build new homes. It may also, in the short-run, weaken political pressure to impose effective supply-side reforms, implying an economy eventually recovers. If however Theresa May turns out to be a bold leader willing to take a political risk and enact meaningful supply-side reforms, then there is real hope. Real hope particularly for the young generation and those less wealthy. Real hope to move towards a 'One Nation' society that is less defined by social divide. If she also manages to limit the adverse long-run economic consequences of Brexit, then there is real hope for a more prosperous future for all.
This article builds on, and is in small parts, identical with my oral and written evidence to the Treasury Committee.


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September 24, 2013
K-State's Mick Charney to present 'The Day Frank Lloyd Wright Came to Town' on Sept. 25
As part of K-State's nine-month sesquicentennial celebration and more specifically its Brown Bag Lunch and Lecture Series, Mick Charney, associate professor of architecture, will give the lecture "The Day Frank Lloyd Wright Came to Town" from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union.
This lecture, as will all 150th brown bag lunch and lectures, is free and open to the public. Bring your lunch and be part of history.


text:
Budget Cf620 Tyres Available in Knutsford
The CF 620 line of passenger tires feature a deep tread ensuring long life. 3 wide tread grooves keep you safe in wet conditions and a large ground contact area reduce wear and provide precise control and handling.
Sorry, we currently do not have any tyres with the Cf620 pattern in stock.
Contact us to see if we can order these in for you.


text:
These words are dedicated to the memory of my friend, the late Otis Brumby Jr., publisher of the Marietta Daily Journal, who encouraged me to run this column each Christmas. It is also dedicated to those who believe.
I wish I had been there, in Bethlehem.
I wish I had witnessed the birth of the baby Jesus in that lowly manger. Was it really as cold that night as it is sometimes depicted on our Christmas cards or was it a cool and comfortable evening, as it is predicted to be this year in Bethlehem?
I wish I could have seen firsthand Mary's face as she looked lovingly at her new baby and that I could have asked her if she knew how much her life was going to change. Did she really understand what God had wrought? And Joseph poor, simple Joseph. What must have been going through his mind? He was in Bethlehem only because he was required to register for the census as decreed by Caesar Augustus. I wish I could have talked to both Mary and Joseph and heard what they had to say about that night.
I wish I could have seen the star that guided people to the manger. Like everyone else that evening, I am sure I would have been stupefied and afraid, even though angels said not to be. I think even hearing from the angels would have scared me. God's power is awesome, and He showed it that night.
I wish I could have observed the shepherds as they came pouring into Bethlehem and headed for the manger to see for themselves what the angels had proclaimed to them in the hills where they were tending their flocks. What did this rough-hewn bunch think when they saw that little baby? The Bible says they went back and told others what they had seen. I wish I could have heard what they said about what they had seen. Shepherding probably never was the same for them after that night.
I wish I could have been there when the Magi arrived. That must have been quite an event in Bethlehem when these three kings from the East appeared to pay homage to the little baby and to present him with gifts of gold and myrrh and frankincense. Why those three particular gifts? I am sure the gold had some practical application and frankincense probably helped sweeten the air around the stables, but myrrh? Did anyone see the irony in the fact that myrrh would be one of the spices that would be offered to Jesus at his crucifixion to dull the pain of the nails and the crown of thorns and later would be used to prepare his body for burial? Was this a sign of things to come? God's ways are mysterious.
I wish I could have talked to the other people in Bethlehem who were there to register for the census along with Mary and Joseph and try to explain to them that a child had been born in their midst who would forever change history. I am not sure they would have believed me if I could have gotten them to listen. Anyway, they probably had no interest in what was going on in town. They just wanted to get out of Bethlehem and back home so that they could get on with their lives.
I wish I could figure out what has happened to us Christians since that fateful night in Bethlehem. Where is our awe? Where is our reverence? Where is our wonderment? Why have we allowed the birth of our Savior to morph into cocktail parties, Black Fridays, Santa Claus and gaudy light displays? Why did we permit this sacred event to be hijacked by retailers who make money off of our holy day, but don't allow the term "merry Christmas" to be uttered, printed or acknowledged lest they offend someone? And we go along with it as though it doesn't matter? Shame on us!
This is why I wish I had been there. I wish we all had been there, in Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph and the Babe. With the shepherds. With the angels. With the Magi. Maybe if we had seen these things for ourselves, then we would understand how special Christmas really is.
Contact Yarbrough at email@example.com, online at dickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb
Why have we changed Christmas into less than it is?
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One of my posts sparked a very good response. As I was composing a comment, I realized that the comment was long enough to be a separate posting, so here it is.
Everyone bitches back and forth, retailer to manufacturer etc…But the most prevalent complaint and annoyance most brands have with retailers is that getting paid within their set terms is usually an adventure. Yes the are a FEW retailers that honor their commitments, but why do you think a lot of brands are forced to retail their own stuff ?
Well, the issue is that a large number of DEs offer retailers Net-30 payment terms when they should not. I see far too many DEs who make that mistake (I cannot reiterate that far too many DEs make that mistake).
My experience has been that most of the companies that offer terms are either large enough to carry the invoices (and have a dedicated collections or accounting department to handle the management of invoices) or they factor their invoices. There are a handful of factors that specialize in the apparel industry and most manufacturers, fabric mills and converters, and other industry suppliers that factor, use these companies.
What happens with DEs is that they are so eager to get the business, they get bullied (or sometimes not even bullied, just persuaded or asked) into offering terms. They talk about running a Dunn & Bradstreet (D&B) report but that won't tell you a whole lot if the company is not dealing with vendors who report to Dunn & Bradstreet. Kind of like the way a credit report won't tell you if a person pays their light bill (in most cases). Let me reiterate that:
May DEs are so eager (and sometimes desperate) to get into a store that they offer payment terms when they should not. Matter of fact, a lot of mistakes I see DEs make is because they are eager to get business.
When you're new, unless you have someone seasoned guiding you, you have no clue which stores have a good payment history. This is where experienced industry sales reps have an advantage, as your sales rep will definitely know which of their store accounts pay and which do not (as they don't get paid until you do). There are some prominent showrooms that build their reputation on knowing so much about the retail landscape in their area, they can steer a DE into the right stores and help them avoid bad stores with a good image and deal with stores that have "payment issues". Many stores use their supplier's terms to finance their inventory, most people in this industry are using the benefit of Peter's payment terms to pay Paul. I hear the "good" stores are the worst at this.
Now I doubt anyone here would let a consumer buy on terms, but they seem to think that all retailers deserve the same type of treatment when it comes to issues like that and there is little evidence to suggest that they do. Unless you are willing to battle it out in court, there is little that a DE can do when a store refuses to pay. You cross state lines (say you're in Texas and this store is in Arizona) and it's even more complex for you to take them to court. "But I have a contract, I have a signed purchase order where the buyer agreed to my terms of sale" is often the first rebuttal (and many people don't have that as they took an order over the phone). But again, contracts become enforceable when you take legal action (i.e. go to court), there are no contract police. I have asked quite a few DEs about this "what do you do about those retailers who do not pay" and they have all replied "There is little I can do. Sure I have some recourse, but when it's a small invoice, It's often not important enough to devote the resources to it."
DEs should be getting paid upfront. With a credit card and signed authorization, with a check or with COD (which is the least preferable of upfront payment methods because those checks can bounce by the time you get to deposit them). If you're not swimming in cash, you should not offer terms.
There is a general nature to receivables (invoices you need to collect). There is often a lot of available data, that may vary from industry to industry, about what percentage of invoices are paid within the terms, and then what percentage are aged (overdue) and for how long. It is an expectation that when you offer terms you will have certain percentages of past due 30,60,90,120 days and more and a certain percentage that you never recover. A quick google of the term "accounts receivables" yields this link. And having taken more accounting classes than I care to discuss, in general, this is what an accounts receivable aging report looks like. It is a business anomaly to have one where all accounts are current.
If it was uncommon for customers to pay late, factors would not exist. I went to one seminar on starting an apparel business where the owner actually showed her receivables aging report. This is a company with about $15-20 million in annual revenue. Everybody has aged receivables.
Having said that this is a general business issue that comes up when you offer payment terms, no matter what industry you are in. It's difficult to understand when a DE acts surprised that some, or many, of their accounts do not pay on time. A simple quick read of a small business accounting book would yield this information. Asking other DEs would as well. It's general industry/business knowledge that it's hard to collect when you offer terms. Since most DEs are not good at collecting (you design, remember) and many are not incredibly confident when dealing with retailers, you don't make the best collection agents (generally) and often don't have enough time to do it.
Now I can sit here and say that retailers are crappy for not paying their bills, which is true, but the reality is that in general, that's what happens when you offer terms across industries. And your largest companies (like large regional stores or department store chains) are the absolute worst.
So if any DE is reading this post, take it to heart. Only offer terms when you can afford to not get paid on time. Only sell to department stores if you can afford to get paid very, very late and then not in full (as they are notorious for charge backs). Never finance a store's inventory just to get your foot in the door, as many DEs do. Have the confidence that your brand will sell well enough to mandate payment upfront. The stores that will not buy your brand because you won't offer terms are likely to be the ones who have a hard time paying invoices.
If you plan on growing to have a decent size of receivables (say $500,000), build a buffer into your wholesale price just in case you decide to factor your invoices. If you don't want to factor, ever, and you're pretty slick at financial analysis, built in a buffer into your wholesale price to "cushion" against the receivables you don't collect upon. This is why costing is crucial.
Now sure, some stores will really need terms. How have I seen DEs resolve this? They offer terms after X number of invoices are paid upfront. For example, after three pre-paid invoices, the retailer can apply for terms. At this point, you have established a relationship with the store and terms are not being granted to a new account that you know little about.
Now on the flip side, as a DE, you'd be surprised at how many fabric mills and converters offer net-60 payment terms (I haven't seen this as much with jobbers). If you're lean and collecting payment from your retailers before shipping, you are basically paying for your fabric after you get paid for your orders. I bet fabric mills could complain all day long about DEs who don't pay on time.
Everybody's using Peter to pay Paul in this industry :)


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Superintendent Heath Morrison and other CMS leaders proudly reported that there were no issues with transportation on the first day of classes this week, on what was a pretty smooth day overall.
But it seems like the "no issues" designation might depend on who you talk to. Parents reported a range of problems on the district's Facebook page earlier this week, and the last child wasn't delivered off the school bus until after 7:30 p.m. Yes, that's 20 minutes earlier than last year, but it's still pretty late.
The CMS Facebook page became a forum for complaints from parents whose kids were picked up or dropped off late Monday morning. To be sure, a few dozen or so complaints doesn't represent massive problems in a district of 140,000-plus, but it gives a flavor of some issues that arose.
One parent said her child waited on a broken down bus for an hour before she picked him up from school. Others reported delays from a half hour to more than an hour and a half.
The district's social media team advised the parents to give the transportation line a call.
I asked Carol Stamper, CMS director of transportation, about what "no issues" means in the context of the first day of school.
Here's what she said, via email: "It is unrealistic to think we would have no issues on the first day! However, we do consider a successful first day in transportation being one that every student was delivered home safely….and that is what we accomplished!"
She said a number of things could result in a late bus, ranging from longer load times to make sure kids were on the right buses, to new students who weren't on the bus roster, to traffic congestion, to drivers getting used to their routes.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
CMS buses weren't smooth sailing for all on first day
98 comments:
- Anonymous said...
Mr. Dunn,
If your time as the CO Ed reporter is going to focus on anything you can find to sensationalize or spread negativity about, you will get very old very quickly.
A Community Member - August 28, 2014 at 6:49 AM
- Anonymous said...
When you try to fit in so many bus runs in, there are bound to be problems. The late buses are a problem all year, not just on the first day, especially at late bell schools. Those kids sometimes sit for :30 just waiting for the bus to get to their school, then endure long rides home. Just getting a child home safely is not good enough - get them home at a decent hour. Change the bell!
- August 28, 2014 at 6:58 AM
- Anonymous said...
"...we do consider a successful first day in transportation being one that every student was delivered home safely--Carol Stamper". Well duh, I would hope that is the minimum standard. Is delivered by 7:30pm considered 'no issue'? CMS would obviously have been better stating 'few issues', but NO they had to try to sound much better.
- August 28, 2014 at 7:03 AM
- Anonymous said...
Dear "A Community Member" (6:49 AM)
Exactly what planet are you on?
The CO does nothing but report glowing news about CMS having been spoon-fed by the CMS propaganda (PR) machine. Have you never read an Ann Doss Helms column?
Kudos to Dunn for stepping outside the spin machine and finding some truth. - August 28, 2014 at 7:22 AM
- Anonymous said...
Can someone fix the brakes on the buses? They are so screechingly loud.
- August 28, 2014 at 8:20 AM
- Dr. Bob said...
Numbers that would be interesting to hear are the number of tardy or absent high school students from first block classes on a daily basis and the number of students who are in attendance first period sleeping during class?
Now those numbers would be astounding to many, if only we could believe what CMS tells us. - August 28, 2014 at 8:45 AM
- Take back our schools said...
HA, ha! I sorry folks but I find it hard to believe if you have any first hand experience with CMS and the revolving door of superintendents that you do not see the effect of the CMS spin machine and the continual promotion of and by the superintendent for his next job. And as well, the growing need to keep promoting CMS as some vibrant urban public school system. City of Charlotte back room deal brokers, business leaders, etc. keep putting this dressed up fake front out there when trying to promote the city.
Luckily, when folks have found they are "forced" to relocate to Charlotte to keep their jobs, they can do enough research to locate outside the county or swing private school tuition in as part of their relocation package.
First day/first week issues are nothing new to this montrous school system. Too bad too many moved here from smaller more community based school systems and now have to live through this uncaring behemoth school system. - August 28, 2014 at 9:26 AM
- Anonymous said...
I have to admit, my small community based K-12 public charter school with 17 well-behaved 5th grade students feels like Utopia compared to CMS. We have a small fleet of school buses driven by teachers and administrators. Everyone arrived on time and got home on time. School starts at 8:00 and ends at 3:00. Our temporary facilities are a series of trailers, a former Subway restaurant and a bank with a vault but the atmosphere makes up for these things. Next year we'll be in a real school building being built for far less than most school buildings.
We'll be eating lunch by the lake today after Singapore math and a review of Maya, Aztec and Inca Civilizations. I know, pinch me.
Utopia, NC - August 28, 2014 at 9:58 AM
- Anonymous said...
What percentage of CMS students actually ride the buses? I believe a few years ago it was 52%.
They claim bell schedules are determined by the bus schedules, yet if only a little more than half of CMS students are riding the buses it sounds like inefficiencies in the system to me. - August 28, 2014 at 11:09 AM
- Anonymous said...
Questioning the purpose of this article, other than to highlight the fact that the CMS spin continues.
There are a lot bigger issues going on in CMS right now than first day transportation issues.
Can you dig into some of the other, more pressing concerns? - August 28, 2014 at 11:13 AM
- Wiley Coyote said...
Interesting.... a teacher who can multitask; Singapore math and send comments online at the same time.
CMS teachers could learn something from you Alicia...... - August 28, 2014 at 11:18 AM
- Anonymous said...
Gee Alicia, it must be utopic if you can get on the internet during school hours.
- August 28, 2014 at 11:53 AM
- Anonymous said...
Bathroom break ladies and gentlemen. My kids don't need an escort. We also read the newspaper.
Alicia - August 28, 2014 at 12:12 PM
- Anonymous said...
Make that two bathroom breaks....when will you go the third time?
- August 28, 2014 at 12:51 PM
- Anonymous said...
This is why children should only attend the schools in their neighborhood/district (exception magnet schools).
- August 28, 2014 at 1:23 PM
- Anonymous said...
Andrew Dunn,
This is all you could come up with for a story? Considering the massive undertaking that CMS transportation is responsible for a few late buses is a huge success. With the amount of magnet schools and children who take the bus just a couple of blocks the real story would have been how the school system should reconsider transportation needs.
Why not do a story on how CMS is instructing their administrators not to suspend students as well as not remove disruptive students from classrooms. This is a topic that directly concerns your readers and deteriorates the level of education that our children will experience.
So far Andrew I'm not impressed. - August 28, 2014 at 1:52 PM
- Anonymous said...
With all this talk of bell schedules and buses, has CMS ever considered letting families choose which "neighborhood" school their child can attend based on location and family schedules. One should be able to choose from say the 4 nearest schools, and choose the one that works for them as long as they get the child to and from school (if it's not their assigned neighborhood school). This would solve a lot of problems, allow families to have some flexibility and save on bus transportation costs, eliminating many riders from service.
- August 28, 2014 at 2:34 PM
- Anonymous said...
2:34 PM......your suggestion makes waaaaaay too much sense for CMS to consider. They like to build schools in nearby towns (Mint Hill) and send kids from the Plaza there. Nobody that lives in Mint Hill even goes there
- August 28, 2014 at 2:44 PM
- Anonymous said...
I normally remain silent as CMS does its' thing with my children, but can stay silent no longer.
My daughter's classroom teacher just asked parents to "donate" $1,000 for furniture in our Personalized Learning" school so that our children have furniture in their classroom. - August 28, 2014 at 3:20 PM
- Anonymous said...
2:44, Mint Hill has two high schools. Independence, which is 2.5 miles from town hall, serves Mint Hill kids. It just got an 8 million dollar renovation and will be getting a 2 million dollar vocational program. The town line runs through the school. Rocky River is the other. It is 3 miles from town hall and serves kids north of the school in the very dense Harris boulevard corridor. Comprende?
- August 28, 2014 at 3:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
2:44, Mint Hill has two high schools. Independence, which is 2.5 miles from town hall, serves Mint Hill kids. It just got an 8 million dollar renovation and will be getting a 2 million dollar vocational program. The town line runs through the school. Rocky River is the other. It is 3 miles from town hall and serves kids north of the school in the very dense Harris boulevard corridor. Comprende?
- August 28, 2014 at 3:30 PM
- Anonymous said...
I hope you do not cave and contribute! Same school and I not contributing. Horrible that they are allowed to do this.
- August 28, 2014 at 3:31 PM
- Anonymous said...
MOrrison of Oz is just like every other BROAD flunkie. He will be gone within another 3 years and NC taxpayers will be on the hook for him Million Dollar Pension.
There are so many layers of inept administrators and $100,000 + salaries that it is hard to work up the ladder to him. How many assistant Superintendents and zone suerintendents does it take to buy and install a light bulb ?
Dunn you will never know if you keep listening to the PR smoke that comes out of the Ivory Tower.
And just what is LaTarza Henry doing now to justify making over $100,000 in salary. Has she impacted any student at all ? - August 28, 2014 at 3:35 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
Tell your principal to contact the principal at Coulwood STEM.
Since CMS is eviscerating that school, they should have extra furniture for you to use. - August 28, 2014 at 3:53 PM
- Anonymous said...
Yep. TWO bathroom breaks between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM! Imagine that?
In all honesty, I'd be as jubilant as I'm feeling teaching at any NC public school. The charter school I'm at is about as ideal a situation as it gets. However, I felt the same way about my teaching experience at a huge inner city school right outside of Washington DC when I was 26-years-old. I'm just so phenomenally happy and grateful to be back in a school environment full-time again. My great-grandmother was a school teacher, my grandmother was a school teacher, my father was a school teacher before becoming a school superintendent. Teaching is in my DNA. I'd be joyful teaching at any school - really. The best part about being a teacher is LEARNING HOW to teach things that I'm not an expert on. As a specialty area teacher (dance), I was an expert at one thing. Now, I have to be a generalist in a lot of things. I never imagined - in my wildest dreams - how thoroughly FUN it is trying to figure out the best way to communicate place values into the billions to a class of 5th graders! I never particularly liked math in school. Who would have thunk I'd love the subject now? The majority of my class tanked my first math quiz. So, I rebooted. The majority of my students now "get" what I was trying to teach in the first place. Do you have any idea how great this feels? Like, wow.
The Courage to Dream
The Courage to Achieve
I am
A NC Public School Teacher
Alicia - August 28, 2014 at 6:51 PM
- Anonymous said...
Actually, all you need to do is converge on the Bond Street warehouse and take all the furniture thrown into the dumpsters there that a simple repair would remedy. CMS rarely will pick up used furniture or books as there's no one to pick it up (or that's what Surplus says). Set up some surveillance and see what's being tossed. Better yet, get your pick up trucks and have all that contraband transferred out to Hawk Ridge and raise #$@%^@ with the Area Superintendent, Heath, or Alicia. A little civil parent protest at Hawk Ridge over glued sawdust furniture would be extremely entertaining. You also might tell the powers out there the proposed vendor's product won't make it through the first semester before it sags, separates, or blows out fasteners.
- August 28, 2014 at 7:16 PM
- Anonymous said...
I am a truck driver Alicia and I have better salary and benefits than you.
NC teachers wake up. Run dont walk to the nearest driving school today and get your CDL. - August 28, 2014 at 7:25 PM
- Anonymous said...
Actually, my public charter school is house with nothing BUT discarded public school buses, desk chairs, teacher desks, trailers, books, etc...
I'd be delighted to take you on a tour of our remarkable facilities.
This is going to be a fun year.
Alicia - August 28, 2014 at 9:55 PM
- Anonymous said...
And my charter school has no gumption about putting nincompoops who have no clue what they're talking about in the bank vault for a needed time-out.
My Social Studies textbooks look like they survived the Dresden bombings. Yet, we learn.
Alicia - August 28, 2014 at 10:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
When will the Observer do a investigative story on Personalized Learning and the waste of resources going on at Hawk Ridge. The last story read like a CMS press release.
- August 29, 2014 at 1:32 AM
- Shamash said...
Would that be Lake Wobegon? - August 29, 2014 at 5:45 AM
- Unknown said...
The first day of school is one of the best days of the year.
The weather was good. Even if the school administrators were too busy to stick their heads out the door to enjoy it, they could at least view it on the new security cameras monitoring the entrances.
Late buses? Parents waiting at bus stops, who had never met other parents, got an extra 15 minutes to get acquainted.
Most football teams still haven't lost a game. Every school is back to having a school nurse. Some teachers are earning a tiny bit more cash.
As far as I know the only person who had a right to complain was the unfortunate secretary manning the phones in the school office.
Bolyn McClung
. - August 29, 2014 at 8:13 AM
- Anonymous said...
I usually would leave it alone but I love showing people up. Spin it anyway you want 3:29 but Independence is NOT in Mint Hill...close doesn't cut it. Independence is NOT in Mint Hill (wanted to repeat). Go to Polaris and ID the parcel..you tell me where it is? Go argue with the tax office. Comprede that chief.
- August 29, 2014 at 8:58 AM
- Anonymous said...
Alicia sure likes to defend her little school. Glad she is so happy there.
- August 29, 2014 at 8:59 AM
- Anonymous said...
I am so glad your are back Shamash!
- August 29, 2014 at 9:16 AM
- Anonymous said...
Dr. Morrison and staff,
PLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE send our South Charlotte elementary school principal to a school where the parents want their children to be educational laboratory rats.
We need someone who understands what's necessary to teach our children the fundamentals, instead of volunteering every year to be project manager for the latest and greatest teaching fad / technique.... - August 29, 2014 at 9:55 AM
- Wiley Coyote said...
...mousetraps... - August 29, 2014 at 12:06 PM
- Anonymous said...
Why don't parents get a say when Hawk Ridge decides to make a radical change. It not like we can opt to go to the neighboring schools if we disagree. And I don't know about the rest of you, but we are not moneybags here despite living in the 28277 zipcode. Don't know where the school going to find it 1000 dollars. They can wring this turnip all they want. Perhaps they should not have chucked all their furniture, they would be have less need for more money now. I feel very violated here.
- August 29, 2014 at 12:12 PM
- Anonymous said...
Anon 12:12,
You do get a say...but you have to speak with your feet!
You can move your child to Union County or Fort Mill public schools, or send your child to one of South Charlotte's many private school options. There are also magnet school and charter school options, as well.
But, if you expect CMS to grant your wishes at your current neighborhood school, ummm, don't hold your breath... - August 29, 2014 at 12:50 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hawk ridge parents need to fight this by NOT contributing to the furniture drive!!!
- August 29, 2014 at 1:23 PM
- Anonymous said...
The CMS shuffle step continues......
We're now being told that our principal has as much at stake as the rest of us parents since they have as many children at the school as anyone else and then we're being guaranteed the outcome from this new fangled approach to learning that is so new that parents are being shaken down for furniture money, so how in the world can anyone make such guarantees???
Makes me wonder just how committed CMS is to this?? if the school doesn't already have the furniture it needs?
Wiley, I know, I know - mouse traps.... - August 29, 2014 at 1:47 PM
- Anonymous said...
CMS will continue to shake the parental money tree up until the point where money stops falling out of it. Apparently the money continues to fall.....
- August 29, 2014 at 1:50 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
At CMS, it's all about diversity.
One sided or selective diversity.
It's only going to get worse folks..... - August 29, 2014 at 2:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
You're right -- it is about diversity.
Why else would per student spending be so lopsided between schools in different areas of the district?
Diversity will be more and more difficult to achieve as the student population tilts towards the group(s) receiving a disproportionate share of CMS' economic pie. - August 29, 2014 at 2:40 PM
- Anonymous said...
Andrew, could you please request a copy of the Standardized test schedule for 2014-2015 CMS schools and release this info publicly? It would be eye opening for the parents to see this long list.
The Washington Post just released the list publicly for the Miami Dade school system (14-15 school year) and it is stunning, to say the least. How are teachers actually able to teach? - August 29, 2014 at 4:06 PM
- Anonymous said...
Is it now CMS policy to allow TV's in the elementary school cafeterias?
- August 29, 2014 at 4:38 PM
- Anonymous said...
Anon 4:38,
CMS is doing a study to determine the impact of maximum student screen times during the day and how that might impact EOG test scores, despite the American Pediatric Society's recommendation of just two hours during the entire day.
Stay tuned!! - August 29, 2014 at 5:00 PM
- Unknown said...
ANON 5:00PM must be incorrect about a supposed CMS study on screen times. The statement "maximum student screen times..impact EOG test scores" makes no sense.
Knowing that CMS' number one mission is student safety, I can image if there were a study at all, the first question would be how screen times affect health…not EOGs. However, if one were looking for a conspiracy theory, a CMS study on screen times would more likely be to determine if computers could safely replace teachers.
If that proved positive, then head to head … or head to monitor competition between teacher and machine would be just around the technological corner.
I can just imagine a computer trying to teach Shakespeare. "To be or not to be." Just don't think a computer would get the concept of "to be."
Bolyn McClung
. - August 30, 2014 at 7:10 PM
- Anonymous said...
7:10 Bolyn, as an educator who previously taught at CMS I believe the screen time point made by 5:00pm was tongue in cheek. It is sad for me to see that students no longer read for pleasure, they are too consumed with social media and technology.
The minds of American youth are becoming vacuous. Their minds are becoming lopsided: too schooled in one type of media, and not well enough acquainted with others. While CMS continues to push technology use in the classroom, it will become a bigger problem especially for our young learners.
Precisely because young people spend so much time with digital media outside of school, schools must offer them a very different kind of education in order to even the cognitive scales. They certainly don't need more of it in school. - August 31, 2014 at 9:07 AM
- Anonymous said...
Video killed the radio star.
Pay the vet teachers ! - August 31, 2014 at 4:46 PM
- Anonymous said...
Dont pay any teacher.
Education in this country should either be Private School or Home School.
Stop wasting BILLIONS every year just in Charlotte alone. - September 1, 2014 at 5:17 PM
- Anonymous said...
I was fortunate to have a number of interesting job prospects all over the board. Without a doubt, I chose the most quirky teaching position I was offered. Another teacher described our school's unofficial mission statement as "pioneering pirate". Our highly successful NC sister charter school has managed to pull over 1,400 students out of surrounding traditional public school systems in less than 9 years. I haven't worked for a charter school long enough to form an opinion on a lot of things. However, I'm certain charter schools in NC are here to stay and will continue to effect and change the educational landscape in NC.
Not so much Lake Wobbegon in terms of the blending of poor rural and wealthy resort demographics - which our EOG/EOC scores reflect - but close enough in terms of my teaching environment which is about as ideal as it gets.
Alicia - September 1, 2014 at 6:44 PM
- Anonymous said...
On the topic of my unformed opinions related to charters schools...
My 5th grade class of 17 students is actually multi-grade. Think one-room school houses where my great-grandmother and grandmother taught. I have students who were retained from advancing to middle school (EOG scores in the single digits) and students who have skipped a grade (EOG scores in the 97th and 98th percentiles). I'm technically teaching 4th, 5th and 6th graders. I honestly don't know where I stand on the issue of retention and advancement but I'm sure by the end to the year, I'll have formed an opinion based on experience.
Alicia - September 1, 2014 at 7:01 PM
- Anonymous said...
Lake Norman charter is a highly sought after school in this area of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
I could be wrong, but I think it's only a matter of time before we see a version of Lake Norman charter in the Ballantyne area. And before y'all chop my head off, most charter schools serve low-income students.
Alicia - September 1, 2014 at 7:15 PM
- Anonymous said...
Done after this last thought...
I attended a magnet high school founded in 1972 that was going to "fail" because it fell outside of the traditional public school grid. My master's thesis - which I received on a full tuition scholarship plus stipend at George Washington University - was on the topic of art magnet schools.
Charter schools? I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Alicia - September 1, 2014 at 7:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
And for the record, my "number of interesting job prospects" did not include my pre-recorded U-Tube "interview" with Project LIFT. I admit, my "interview" with an "early adopter" computer screen did not go well. Not at all.
Alicia - September 1, 2014 at 7:38 PM
- Anonymous said...
CMS is too big.
- September 2, 2014 at 9:30 AM
- Gaston Co. said...
to 4:38 Geez. tvs in the cafeteria. As a parent I would be very concerned about this. What propaganda are they spewing on these tvs? Isn't lunch time for eating and connecting and socializing with friends? We need to have more screens in our childrens faces at lunch now. That is very upsetting. I will be checking my childs school.
- September 2, 2014 at 9:35 AM
- Anonymous said...
I remember when my child's elementary school lunchroom used a stop light to signal when the lunchroom's noise level was too high.
That's now gone and they're putting TV screens in now for the kids to watch.
What could the kids possibly need to see on a screen during lunchtime that warrants yet another screen in front of them during the school day?????
SmartBoards, TV in the school's entry way (gone now), BYOT, Personalized Learning and now TVs in the lunchroom. - September 2, 2014 at 11:56 AM
- Anonymous said...
Once I learned that you are a teacher at Lake Norman charter, I am not suprised that you are very happy. The fact that those kids are even at LNC indicates the children you work with have parents who cares. Despite the fact that you work at a charter school even you must admit, that children who have caring and involved parents are usually going to outperform those children who don't. So give me a break from touting charter schools as the end all be all of public education. Schools are merely a reflection of the community in which they serve! - September 2, 2014 at 1:07 PM
- Anonymous said...
My apolgies, after correctly reading one of your earlier posts, I realized you do not work at lake Norman Charter. However, I do believe schools are a reflection of the communities in which they serve. - September 2, 2014 at 1:15 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
If schools are a reflection of the communities they serve, that must mean the politicians and educrats who are elected and hired to manage our school system are grossly underperfoming as bad as the schools. - September 2, 2014 at 1:44 PM
- Anonymous said...
9:30 am: CMS is waaaaaaay too big!
- September 2, 2014 at 2:50 PM
- Anonymous said...
Do yourself and your familiy a favor.
Much better salary and benefits! - September 2, 2014 at 3:42 PM
- Anonymous said...
Ive heard everything now, letting kids watch TV during lunch. Is the principal of the school aware of this and in favor of this?
- September 2, 2014 at 5:43 PM
- Anonymous said...
No, I do not work for Lake Norman charter. I work for a charter school on a different lake. And I wholeheartedly agree with you as far as parents who care making all the difference in the world. It's this very thing that makes my teaching environment "ideal" and "utopian".
Excerpt of my soliloquy the very first day of school...
"Ladies and gentlemen. Some adult in your life loved you enough to chose to send you here when they had other viable options with fancier things. Therefore, I expect you to honor the adult person in your life who deeply cares about your education by living up to the standards and expectations associated with our school. I will not accept or tolerate disrespectful behavior that dishonors me, other students in this class, or the adult or adults in your life who care about your education".
As I stated, one of the primary reasons I find the charter school I'm working for "as about as idea as it gets" is because I have parents who care - wealthy parents with lots of education and poor parents with barely more than a high school diploma.
Alicia - September 2, 2014 at 6:03 PM
- Anonymous said...
My charter school encourages all their teachers and staff members to obtain a bus driver's license which enables us to take as many field trips as we like in buses that other public schools have discarded. That's right. A head administrator had the hood of one school bus up this week in order to fix the engine.
Alicia - September 2, 2014 at 6:10 PM
- Shamash said...
Anon 3:42.
So who is the greater danger to society?
A happy school teacher or a disgruntled truck driver?
To some folks, money isn't everything.
For a few years, at least... - September 2, 2014 at 7:43 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thank you. I truly am happy. I love the teaching profession. Words can not express how I feel standing in front of a room of children ready to take on the world. Teaching is a calling. Teaching is a gift. Teaching is a blessing. I give thanks to God every day for the opportunity to teach.
Alicia - September 2, 2014 at 8:54 PM
- Anonymous said...
Maybe the TVs in the cafeteria are being used as a sedative for the kids.
- September 3, 2014 at 9:53 AM
- Anonymous said...
You may LOVE teaching.
What about your family ? Having money to pay for the mortgage? Having a salary that can pay for your childrens higher education ? Having adequate benefits to take care of your sick children ? Putting more than beans, rice and tofu on the table to feed your family.
Think about someone other than yourself Alicia.
GO DRIVE A TRUCK - September 3, 2014 at 5:51 PM
- Anonymous said...
My class sat on the grass and ate lunch overlooking some spectacular scenery today. No TV's. In fact, we don't even have a computer lab.
I know, pinch me.
Alicia - September 3, 2014 at 6:08 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thank God you never taught one of my children. I pity those children and parents stuck in your classroom. Perhaps it is YOU who needs to go and drive a truck? May I suggest you do society a favor and get out of the teaching profession. Life's too short. You have the education and where-with-all to be happy doing something else. I believe I stood out in the hot sun holding up a sign in favor of raising NC teacher salaries during Charlotte's "Moral Monday". Where were you?
Alicia - September 3, 2014 at 7:16 PM
- Anonymous said...
Perhaps you feel degraded working in a profession that is 90% female? You know, being a man. Ouch. But you know? You kind of deserve it. I don't personally attack people based on their opinions. And yes, I love my job. Put that in your hat and smoke it!
Alicia - September 3, 2014 at 7:34 PM
- Anonymous said...
I choose to make less than a dance teacher teaching 5th grade math and social studies at a NC public school and this is the crap I get?
No wonder colleges are shutting down their education departments.
Alicia - September 3, 2014 at 9:27 PM
- Anonymous said...
I drive a Truck you Mo Mo's
Do yourself and more importantly your FAMILY a favor and go get your CDL!
Or heck just get into Burger King management just like the former teacher of the year.
Much better salary and benefits package. - September 3, 2014 at 9:41 PM
- Anonymous said...
Beverly(former teacher)Purdue set teachers in NC back at least a decade. They will NEVER EVER get back their lost salary, benefits package and pension.
An education degree in this state is a half step above a job at Starbucks now. - September 3, 2014 at 9:58 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
...over 85% graduation rate....comical.
I'm sure Heath already has his resume reworked to reflect that for his next job. - September 4, 2014 at 7:40 AM
- Anonymous said...
It really angers me how CMS announced their "new" graduation rate while last year announcing making it easier for kids to get a passing grade just for showing up to class. What a disservice to our community and a huge disservice to these students.
CMS needs to take these kids that they feel deserve a "c" just for signing their name to a test and put them into technical/apprentice type school. Until a high school is created where all these kids are taken out of normal, instructional classes and sent to develop a skill, I know that this graduation rate is a joke. An absolute joke. These administrators should be ashamed of themselves.
The world needs ditch diggers too, unfortunately they are all coming from CMS---to bad it wasn't more plumbers, electricians, woodworkers, mechanics, computer technicians and carpenters. - September 4, 2014 at 9:22 AM
- Champs said...
Maybe they can all become professional athletes too, seeing that CMS school administrators, Athletic directors, Coaches and teaching staff "play" with the numbers and test scores to allow ineligible players to play every season. Must be that funny math they're teaching.
- September 4, 2014 at 12:39 PM
- Anonymous said...
Another MOrrison and BofE Shell Game.
Do you think that graduation rates going up have anything to do withe standards to graduate going down?
Keep patting everyone on the back over at the Ivory Tower and keep that new PR machine blowing smoke Heath of Oz. Anyone with any common sense can see the simple math going on.
Oh yeah, and now no student gets less than a 50 on anything and they can take a test until they get an 84. If the graduation rate EVER goes down after all this nonsense then EVERY administrator in CMeS should be FIRED on the spot.
Heath doesnt have to worry about his resume because it is Broad playbook 101. He will leave in a couple of years with a million dollar pension and a bonus every year. - September 4, 2014 at 4:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
the Sup Morrison is doing a big disservice to this community by not promoting the trades. Not all kids should go to college, as a district supervisor he should know this first and be more active in acknowleging that fact.
- September 4, 2014 at 4:10 PM
- Anonymous said...
It's been a week since a new blog subject and the natives are restless and I'm weary of Alicia's wonderful life in Never, Never Land, the corrugated cardboard NC US Senate candidates, and the bogus graduation rates. How about a little discourse on the falling reading scores in Heath's village or other recent CMS dirt? - September 4, 2014 at 7:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
I am scared of these large classroom sizes at CMS! Administrators are putting students and teachers in dangerous situations! Remember you read it here.
- September 4, 2014 at 7:11 PM
- Anonymous said...
He promoted trade schools in Nevada. Now he is to drunk on the Broad punch bowl
- September 4, 2014 at 7:44 PM
- Anonymous said...
Education policy in CMeS is like the weather in Scotland.
If you dont like it wait 10 minutes and it will change. - September 4, 2014 at 7:46 PM
- Anonymous said...
How about the time that task force about bell schedules is wasting? Nothing will ever change. And I think it is odd that people would want to shorten a school day when NC is practically last in the nation in scores.
- September 4, 2014 at 9:35 PM
- Anonymous said...
I do not believe that staff members or even parents can confirm or agree that the graduation rates have gone up.
- September 5, 2014 at 8:14 AM
- Carol S. said...
9:35 I wouldn't be too sure of that. The later school start time movement is finally gaining momentum. Sleep deprivation is real and the school system is not helping the situation with 7:15am start times. If this is really about what is best for students and the learning and health, then the times should (and will) change.
- September 5, 2014 at 8:44 AM
- Anonymous said...
CMS continues to search for the magic bullet. So many words and a 26 minute video and nothing said last night at my school's Parent meeting. Please stop insulting the parents with your buzz words, jargon and nonsense. The changes are age inappropriate and my child is not going into the workforce tomorrow. Many of your parents and staff feel the same way. Sounds like you're trying to master your own objectives.
- September 5, 2014 at 9:36 AM
- Anonymous said...
Anon 9:36,
Maybe we were at the same "town hall" meeting last night. Scary stuff, to say the least.
Since when does our nine year old daughter and ten year old son know enough to be a "master" of anything in their lives? Now their being asked to be the masters of their own educations??? No homework, and they're now going to work at their own pace.....
My husband and I were left scratching our heads wondering if this is really for real. - September 5, 2014 at 12:08 PM
- Anonymous said...
@9:36 glad to know I didn't miss any personal learning info at HR this week! Too much silence and too many buzz words. I worry my fifth grader will be behind when he gets to CHMS next fall.
- September 5, 2014 at 1:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
I heard way too much talk last night. Just couldn't understand any of it, and why this is happening in our neighborhood school. - September 5, 2014 at 2:46 PM
- Wiley Coyote said...
CMS is preparing your sons and daughters for their careers as fry cooks.
When the $15.00 per hour minimum wage passes, they'll make $31,200 per year at 40 hours per week handing bags of fast food to you in your car.
What is it starting teachers make? - September 5, 2014 at 3:54 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hey Wiley, nothing wrong with fry cooks. Maybe more students should be prepared for the real world, something parents and administrators in CMS should be more honest about.
- September 5, 2014 at 4:24 PM
- Anonymous said...
Fellow HR parents - time to order workbooks so we can do real work at home. My child has not done any math so far.
- September 5, 2014 at 5:28 PM
- Anonymous said...
I beleive I worked for the Prince George's County MD Public School System where a student was shot and killed a block from the school I worked at during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. Former D.C. mayor Marion Barry spearheaded a summer arts program I worked for that's mission was to get teenage gang members off the streets for the summer. I worked with bonafide teenage gang members that the city of Washington DC PAID to show up to take art, music, dance and theatre lessons. The mayor's wife and children attended our first performance entitled, "Stop the Killing!"
Regarding "Never, Never Land". Yes. Compared to my experience in and around our nation's capitol, my current teaching assignment enables me to appreciate things that those who have never taught at places like Project LIFT can never understand. It really is a shame I never made it past Project LIFT's computer screen interview.
Live from Utopia, NC
Alicia - September 7, 2014 at 6:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
In today's overly obsessed standardized testing world, perhaps it doesn't matter to see a group of teenage gang members willingly perform bad ballet - during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic.
But you know? At least I tried.
Alicia - September 7, 2014 at 6:34 PM


text:
Hewlett-Packard has laid claim to setting a new milestone in blade servers sales and is broadening the target market for blades to include high-performance transaction computing. To date, HP has sold 50,000 blade servers, more than any other major vendor.
HP announced it has sold more than 50,000 blade servers to date as well as beefed up processing power to reach a further-expanded market.
Sally Stevens, director of marketing for ProLiant platforms told ServerWatch that since the release of the p-Class blade line "there has been an uptick in acceptance" with blades moving beyond the Web serving sphere and into the application server and database space.
At this time, she said that single-, dual-, and four-processor p-Class blades on the market and 64-bit solutions slated for availability during the second half of 2004, blades are fair game in any environments that does not require a token ring.
To hit what HP describes as "a wide range of customers across multiple industries" the vendor has beefed up the processing power with the Xeon DP processors in the ProLiant BL20p blade server and set new performance benchmarks with both the ProLiant BL20p and ProLiant BL40p blade servers.
The upgraded dual-processor HP ProLiant BL20p server now offers 3.2-GHz Xeon DP processors with 1 MB L3 cache, supporting up to 8 GB of PC 2100 DDR memory and an embedded Smart Array 5i array controller and gigabit NIC standard. The upgraded ProLiant BL20p also supports a new input/output cable with two USB ports, one video port, one iLO (integrated lights out) port and one kernel debug port specifically designed to aid in initial server management deployment.
HP has also added VMware and PolyServe to its HP Blade Alliance Program.
Stevens cited three recent customer wins as examples of HP's expanded reach. AgResearch, Hostopia, and Telecomputing ASA have recently hopped on HP ProLiant BL blade servers train. AgResearch is using blades for its research endeavors, while Hostopia and Telecomputing ASA are using them in production environments
Stevens further noted that the BL20p and BL40p servers recently set new benchmark records. The ProLiant BL20p server achieved the best two-way two-tier results on the SAP Sales and Distribution Standard Application Benchmark, supporting 329 SAP SD Benchmark users with the fastest average response time of 1.99 seconds.
Two SPECweb99_SSL benchmarks were also set. The first used an HP ProLiant BL20p configuration with two Intel 3.06-GHz Xeon DP processors with 1 MB L3 cache, 8 GB of memory, and an embedded Smart Array 5i+ array controller to achieve a 2.7 percent advantage over competing blades. The second SPECweb99 SSL performance benchmark was achieved on an HP ProLiant BL40p running two Intel 2.8-GHz Xeon MP processors with 2 MB L3 cache, 12 GB of memory, four embedded NC7781 gigabit NICs and an embedded Smart Array 5i+ array controller.


text:
A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Cheryl, came over to brainstorm my basement decorating. I am SO excited about her suggestions and can't wait to start working on the decorating portion, rather than the construction portion, of my basement!
When she came to visit she brought with her some amazing hot chocolate! One thing about Cheryl is that she is totally gifted in hospitality.....yes, she come to my house and brings hot chocolate....mugs and all!
Her hot chocolate was so good that I had to share her "secret recipe" with you all!
You will need milk, Hershey's syrup, coffee creamer and whipped cream!
Warm your milk and add Hershey's syrup.....we used the dark chocolate...YUM!
Add in your flavored coffee creamer....we are away so I bought some because I forgot to bring the good stuff that Cheryl bought for me. The caramel flavoring makes it taste SO good!
Add a dollop of whipped cream and you've got a steamy treat!
When I first started blogging, I shared another homemade recipe for hot chocolate from Martha Stewart....you can get that recipe HERE.
Happy Fall!